Two-way anti-creeping assembly for railroad rails



L. SPENCER March 29, 1966 TWO-WAY ANTI-CREEPING ASSEMBLY FOR RAILROAD RAILS Filed July 16, 1963 LEE SPEN GER x; ATTO'I EY United States Patent 3,243,121 TWO-WAY ANTI-CREEPING ASSEMBLY FOR RAILROAD RAILS Lee Spencer, Scottsdale, Ariz., assignor to Nordberg Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed July 16, 1963, Ser. No. 295,303 Claims. (Cl. 238-321) This invention relates to railway accessories, and more particularly to a simple and practical means for preventing creeping of the railway rails in either direction relative to the ties.

Ordinarily, railway rails are mounted on tie plates which include line spike holes located in spaced apart relation in each of the opposite shoulders which engage the base flanges of the rail. Also, tie plates have spike holes for securing the tie plate to the tie. Rail anchors or anti-creepers are now generally applied to the base of the rail and abut against the tie, or, both the tie and the tie plate, the anchor being located on the side of the tie plate opposite the direction of trafiic so that if the rail tends to move under rolling loads, it will be resisted in said direction by the anchor engaging the tie or tie plate.

Under pressure of economy in accessories and equipment, many railroads are using the same tracks for twoway traflic with appropriate turn outs at locations where they are feasible and practical. Where two-way traffic is involved, the rail can creep in both directions, and, to prevent this occurrence, it has been customary to use rail anchors at each side of the tie. While it has heretofore been proposed to provide means for preventing two-way creeping in established track, nevertheless prior proposals have not gone into practical use with more or less standard one-piece rail anchors made by a series of sequential operations in a forging press. Furthermore, prior proposals involve extra labor and skill in efiecting the installation and thus in a measure, these factors further defeat the economies desired to be eifected.

Accordingly, the present invention has as its primary object the provision of simple and practical means which can be readily manufactured by conventional manufacturing procedures from readily available sheet or plate stock lending itself to die forming operations, which latter can quickly convert the strip or plate into its final usable form.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device in the nature of a shim which may be placed between the tie plate and the base of the rail. One end ;of the shim is formed to engage the edge of the tie plate and the other or opposite end extends beyond the tie and tie plate to be engaged and gripped by a conventional one-piece rail anchor. The sides of the shim body are also provided with depending lugs to enter the line, spike holes to secure the shim in the first instance against movement relative to the tie plate by the mere act of laying the shim on top of the tie plate. As these lugs enter the line spike holes, they reduce the area of the holes somewhat so that the conventional line spike when driven through the line holes, takes up any looseness between the spike and the shank to provide a more stable assembly. In that connection, it may be observed that the A.R.E.A. standards call for the line spike holes to be /1" x A while the spike standard calls for a /8" spike shank.

Patented Mar. 29, 1966 Thus, in addition to the lugs being disposed to prevent shifting of the shim in the direction of its length, they also have the capacity to fill out the spike holes and more firmly secure the tie plate and rail in a manner to maintain it accurately to proper gauge.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shim which in addition to being held beneath the base of the rail by the weight of the rail itself, as distinguished from on top of the rail flange, can also be further held in place by the embracing efiect of a rail anchor, while, atthe same time, locking the rail anchor itself against movement in either direction. That is, either against, the tie and tie plate, or in the opposite direction a suitable formation on the shim alone.

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, arrangement, and combination of parts as hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the shim as an article to be used in an anti-creeper assembly, the tie plate being shown in dotted lines.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a complete installation of a portion of a rail; a tie plate; the shim mounted between the base of the rail and the top surface of the tie plate; and the rail anchor applied to engage the tie and tie plate, and, to also embrace and engage the shim extension.

FIG. 3 is a detail side elevation, partly in section, taken on line 3-- 3 of FIG. 2, and emphasizing the abutment portions being spaced from the plate.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 44- of FIG. 2.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The anti-creeping shim constituting the present invention is designated generally as A and includes an elongated planar metal body of a width to fit between-the opposite usu-al shoulders S of the tie plate TP resting on the tie T, the inter-shoulder width being the maximum width'of the planar body member for that portion of its length which is co-extensive with the running length of the tie plate T on which it rests. The phrase running length of course denotes a line of direction which is parallel tothe length of the rail. As shown, the tie plate has the line spike holes LS, which open at both sides of the shoulders, and the completely enclosed spike holes TS through which the tie plate spikes pass into the tie.

The opposite side edges of the body of the shim .A are medially provided with spaced down-turned holding lugs B. These lugs preferably include a downwardly extending portion v1 and an angularly disposed difset portion 2. As Will'be seen from FIG. l,'the angular portions Zare formed at adjacent edgesof thedownturned portions 1 so that they will fit in related angles of the line spike .holesLS as shown in FIG. 2. These lugs function as movement restraining means which prevent movement of the body member with. respectito the tie plate TP in a leftward direction with respect to FIGURE 1.

When the shim is laid upon thetie plate between the shoulders S, the shim in initially locked in place on the tie plate a manner that it cannot slide so that when the rail R is overlaid on the shim it cannot shift. Thereafter, when line spikes (not shown) are driven in the line spike holes LS any dimensional differences between the cross-section of the shank of the line spike and the line spike holes will be obliteratel by the portions 1 and 2 of the lug B.

Both ends of the body of the shim overhang the tie plate.

One end is provided with a plurality of downwardly projecting abutment flanges or movement restraining means 3 at the opposite side edges thereof which extend outwardly from the nominal side edges, and, also, with the intermediate punched down portions 4, all of which present a series of aligned abutment edges or surfaces 5 which engage directly with the adjacent side edge of the tie plate TP. The integrally formed flanges 3 and abutment edges 5 present shear resistance to the movement of the body member to the right with respect to tie plate TP.

The other and opposite end 6 of the shim is plain, flat, and lies beneath the base of the rail so that when the rail anchor RA is applied to the base flange of the rail the upper part of the rail anchor jaw bears on the upper face of the base flange of the rail while the under-arm of the anchor secures the shim firmly to the rail to augment the holding power of the rail anchor in the direction that it normally resists creeping, namely, against the tie T. It will be noted that the width of the shim is no greater than the width of the rail flange which rests on it.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that when the shim A is made, the lugs B and the down-turned end abutments 5 are so calculated that adequate and proper tie plate engagement is effected. Since the tie plates and their punchings are standard and the thickness of the under rail portion of the anchors are also known, the shims can be fabricated accordingly.

Assuming that the shim A has been placed as above described, a rail anchor RA of the type shown for example in Ruppert Patent No. 2,717,740 dated Sept. 13, 1955, may be readily applied over the base flange of the rail and across the extension 6 so that the latter is firmly locked to the base of the rail. By the simple act of placing the hook or jaw of the rail anchor R over one flange of the base of the rail and striking the outer face of the anchor hook with the usual applying force, the locking shoulder RA at te other end of the platform opposite the hook or jaw will snap into place with its platform portion engaging the body of the shim extension 6 and the rail anchor. If the rail starts to creep toward the left in FIG. 2, it will be resisted by the rail anchor engaging tie plate or the tie, or both. On the other hand, if the rail anchor starts to move or creep toward the right in FIG. 2, this movement will be resisted by the lugs B and downturned portions 3, 4, and 5.

In this specification and the appended claims the term transverse length of both the tie plate TP and the rail anchor RA denotes a distance measurement parallel to the running length of the tie plate TP.

From the foregoing, it is believed that it will now be clear that the present invention provides simple, practical, and economical accessories for anchoring rails against two-way creeping.

I claim:

1. A two-way anti-creeping assembly for railway track, comprising, in combination,

a tie plate having opposite rail flange engaging shoulders and line spike holes therein,

a rectangular shim having a body of greater length than the opposite side portions of the tie plate and having both ends overhanging the related ends of said plate,

means depending from the medial side edegs of the shim for entering said line spike holes,

means extending below and from one end of the shim to engage the tie plate,

and a rail anchor secured to a rail flange of the rail mounted on the shim and engaging the end of the shim opposite the last-named means to prevent movement of the anchor in either direction relative to the longitudinal axis of the rail.

2. As an article of manufacture, a two-Way rail anticreeping assembly for frictionaly positioning a spring jaw rail anchor on a rail resting on a tie plate having opposite rail flange engaging shoulders and at least one line spike hole therein,

a thin flat shim adapted to underlie the base flange of a rail, said shim having a body of uniform depth throughout and of greater length than the shoulders so that both ends are adapted to overhang the upper surfaces of the related ends of said plate,

said shim further having integral angular lugs depending from the side edges of said member to enter the line spike holes,

tie plate abutment means extending below and from one end of the shim body to engage said plate,

and an extended rail anchor engaging portion at the end of the body opposite said abutment means to lie beneath the base of the rail and adapted to be frictionally gripped against the bottom face of the rail base by the spring jaw of a rail anchor applied in a direction transversely to the base of the rail.

3. A rail creep prevention device foruse with a standard sized tie plate and rail anchor, said device including, in combination,

a planar body member,

said body member having a length at least equal to the combined transverse lengths of a tie plate and a rail anchor,

said body member having an upper surface all parts of which lie in a common plane,

the maximum width of the body member for that portion of its length co-extensive with the running length of a tie plate being the inter-shoulder width of the tie plate,

said planar body member having, at one end thereof,

first movement restraining means which extend downwardly from said planar body member,

said first movement restraining means having an abutment surface constructed and arranged to butt against the edge surface of a tie plate to thereby resist movement of the planar body member in a direction looking toward the other end of said device,

said planar body member further having, along that portion of its length co-extensive with the running length of a tie plate, second movement restraining means,

said second movement restraining means extending outwardly from each of the nominal edges of the planar body member at those locations coincident with line spike holes in a tie plate, and having an abutment surface constructed and arranged for disposition in abutting engagement with an edge of a line spike hole in a tie plate to thereby resist movement of the planar body member in a direction looking toward the said one end thereof,

the maximum width of the body member along that portion of it which extends beyond the tie plate a distance equal to the transverse length of a rail anchor being no greater than the width of a rail adapted to be received on the tie plate.

4. The rail creep prevention device of claim 3 further characterized in that said first movement restraining means are formed from the downwardly extending portion of the body member, and are disposed to present a shear resistance to movement of the body member with respect to an associated tie plate.

5. The rail creep prevention device of claim 3 further charac erized in that 5 the body member is formed with a continuous surface area.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,144,003 6/ 1915 Scott 238-299 1,285,380 11/1918 Reedy 238309 1,337,621 4/1920 Randall 238-280 6 Duffy et a1. 238280 Clark-son 238315 Spencer 238--287 Saul 238309 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

LEO QUACKENBUSH, Examiner.

M. I HILL, R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A TWO-WAY ANTI-CREEPING ASSEMBLY FOR RAILWAY TRACK, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A TIE PLATE HAVING OPPOSITE RAIL FLANGE ENGAGING SHOULDERS AND LINE SPIKE HOLES THEREIN, A RECTANGULAR SHIM HAVING A BODY OF GREATER LENGTH THAN THE OPPOSITE SIDE PORTIONSOF THE TIE PLATE AND HAVING BOTH ENDS OVERHANGING THE RELATED ENDS OF SAID PLATE, MEANS DEPENDING FROM THE MEDIAL SIDE EDGES OF THE SHIM FOR ENTERING SAID LINE SPIKE HOLES, MEANS EXTENDING BELOW AND FROM ONE END OF THE SHIM TO ENGAGE THE TIE PLATE, AND A RAIL ANCHOR SECURED TO A RAIL FLANGE OF THE RAIL MOUNTED ON THE SHIM AND ENGAGING THE END OF THE SHIM OPPOSITE THE LAST-NAMED MEANS TO PREVENT MOVEMENT OF THE ANCHOR IN EITHER DIRECTION RELATIVE TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE RAIL. 